Suraya Pakzad is an Afghan women's rights activist. In 1998 she founded ''Voice of Women'', which began by teaching girls how to read, and now provides women with shelter, counseling, and job training.Suraya Pakzad , WISE Muslim Women
The organization worked in secret until 2001 because of the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

. In fact, on two occasions, the girls being taught to read had to burn their books for fear of being caught. Voice of Women was named as an official NGO in 2001, and in 2002 it officially registered with the government of Afghanistan. It also helped develop the Afghan constitution. Pakzad received an

International Women of Courage Award The International Women of Courage Award, also referred to as the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award, is an American award presented annually by the United States Department of State to women around the world who have ...

from the US Secretary of State, and a “Malali Medal” from the President of Afghanistan, both in 2008. She was named one of the

Time 100 ''Time'' 100 (often stylized as ''TIME'' 100) is an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, po ...

in 2009.

Secretary Rice with 2008 International Women of Courage Award honorees Idrizi Pakzad Rice Ibrahim Jan

In 2010 she received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an honorary Associate of Arts degree from Burlington County College, as well as the

Clinton Global Citizen Award The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was es ...

. In 2011 ''

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'' named her as one of 150 Women Who Shake the World. In 2012 she received the Female Leader of the Year Award from the Austria Female Leadership Foundation in Germany.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakzad, Suraya Living people Afghan activists Afghan women activists Afghan women's rights activists Year of birth missing (living people) Courage awards Recipients of the International Women of Courage Award